I played a lot of board games in my youth (e.g. Quirks, Sopwith, Sorcerer's Cave, Alaska) but stopped playing them, mainly because my former partner didn't like playing games.
A few years ago, I rediscovered them, especially German board games, which combine good gameplay with short rules.
Read how I got back into board games.
If you want to buy me a game, see my wants: board games.

news

A few years back, I went to play Spammers, I game I've had for a few years, but when I opened it, I found that instead of two different packs of cards, I had the same pack twice, rendering the game unplayable.
I could have given up at this point, especially as the game is from the States, but instead emailed Atlas Games.
Within a couple of hours, I received a reply, and a few days later, received two new packs of cards from John Nephew, the president of the company. This level of customer service is fantastic, and very welcome. Thanks, John!

I was in the Argus on Monday 20 October 2003, which has coverage throughout Sussex.
They printed an article on theblisspages boardgames and I featured in the editorial for two weeks.
See my 15 minutes of fame.

As a result of the article, I was contacted by Martin Devereux of the Brighton Boardgames Club who meet in Brighton on Tuesday evenings.

Graham Lipscomb, author of Creeper & Colliding Circles, which was sold in Essen a couple of years ago, also emailed me.
Graham still had a few copies left, which he was selling on his website at www.grahams-games.co.uk.
He also has a dice spelling game, Dicewords.

The Weekly News, with a readership of 275,000, also ran an article about me on their 21 April 2004 issue with a couple of photos.
I was then contacted by a reader in Northumberland wanting rules for Mah Jongg.

my games

I have about 500 games, including 50 or so children's games (I need to cull some soon as they're getting older). You can see the ones I've catalogued so
far on BoardGameGeek(hint - click on a letter or on ALL to see the list!). I plan to highlight
particular games or types of game periodically. Submissions are welcome!

game session reports

We run weekly sessions in West Sussex, usually on Wednesday nights, and have run
680
events since November 2001. Click on the Essen 2001 picture below to find out the early players (some of whom still attend).
We welcome new players. If you're interested in coming along, please email
me your name, address and telephone number and I'll contact you with forthcoming dates and venues.

Below are forthcoming events and reports from the last month. Click here
to see earlier events.

Date and time

Venue

Players

Report

Wed 18 Mar 15 at 20:00

Tony's

we'll be playing Dead of Winter tonight (but Tony might not be home until 2030)

Wed 25 Mar 15 at 20:00

Mike's

Winter is not just coming - it's here. Tonight we're playing, Dead of Winter again. What a wonderful game...

buying games

One good source for second-hand games in the UK is charity shops.
Although there is a lot of dross, you can also find some great games - I've picked up such gems as Fair Means or Foul, Magic Carpet and Cafe International.

I've also bought many games from Playin' Games at 33 Museum St, London
WC1A 1JR, though they have now closed.

I now tend to get most of my games from The
Board Game Club. Their prices are keen and they usually come to Pasteboard and Plastic.

I used to buy online from adam spielt in Germany.
They were particularly good (surprise, surprise) for German games, but they have stopped selling games.

I have bought games from Gamesale.
They are particularly good for second-hand games. Their prices are competitive and delivery is also quick.

Another source I have used is MNG, who sell second-hand games by mail-order.
This used to be run by Eamon Bloomfield, but has now been taken over by Andy Merritt. Email Andy at andy.merritt@ntlworld.com
for details and lists. I am on Andy's mailing list.

Essen

Essen is the premier games fair in the world and is held annually. You can get maps of the halls and
lists of games and exhibitors from the
Merz Verlag site. I also thoroughly recommend
Brett & Board for information on games and Essen. Anyone going to Essen for the games fair is
unlikely to see much of the city, so you might like to take the
virtual tour! or visit the main Tourism
in Essen site.

Essen 2011

Although I didn't go this year, Joseph and Alan bought back some games for me:

new games

Rattus: Africanus

Tuareg

expansions

Rattus: Bonus 2

Smallworld: Tunnels

Dominion: Carcassonne

Zooloretto: Katta

Essen 2010

I went back to Essen from 21-24 October 2010, my fourth visit to
the fair. I flew BA and stayed at the Hotel Korn. The beds were too small (my
duvet was the width of the (narrow) bed and too short, so I had to sleep in
my socks) but the food was excellent - I particularly recommend the Zabaglione.

We took a taxi to and from Dusseldorf, and the return journey was only 20 minutes
- much quicker (and cheaper) than the metro and ICE train.

The first time I went to Essen, most of the games were in German, but this
time, I've already been able to download and print the few games that didn't
have English rules. All games are now punched and ready to play, and I'm reading
the rules of all the games I haven't yet played.

I was determined not to buy many games, and as you can see, I singularly failed
in this! Some I resisted included Bankok Clongs, Inca Empire, Schinderhannes
and Mars is Ours! I chatted to several designers, including Steve Zamborsky
(Cleopatra's Caboose) and Nellie Maan from Adrenaline Brush,
who was demonstrating some interesting games, including Fondue, which has similarities to Labyrinth.

Games I bought include (* indicates games I've played, + indicates rules have been read):

new games

Fresco *

Burrows *

London *

Antics! *

First Train to Nurnberg *

Industry *

Sun, Sea & Sand *

Hansa Teutonica *

Tricky Safari *

Crows *

Felinia *

Famiglia *

Gosu *

Adlungland +

Antigua *

Rattus *

=16

older games

Santa Timea (2009)

Aargh!tect (2009) +

Finca (2009) *

Neuland (2008) +

Ice Flow (2008) *

Powerboats (2008) *

Caylus Magna Carta (2007) *

Fredericus (2005) +

Trans-Europa (2005) *

Knock! Knock! (2004) +

Sea Sim (2004) *

=11

expansions

Rattus: Pied Piper +

Rattus: Bonus +

Hansa Teutonica - Eastern Expansion

Agricola: Farmers on the Moor and Legendary Deck

Dominion: Alchemy

Dominion: Prosperity

Smallworld: Be not Afraid *

Smallworld: Necromancer Island *

Days of Steam: Locomotives

Ark: expansion

Zooloretto: bonus card

Power Grid: Russia/Japan maps and free cards *

Finca: free expansion +

Essen 2009

Although I didn't go, Joseph and Richard bought back some games for me:

The Power Grid expansion: Brazil and Spain/Portugal

Poison

Car(d)cassonne

Shipyard

Factory Manager

There are also a couple of new games I may try to buy soon:

Tobago

Aarg!tect (bought in 2010)

Essen 2005

Joseph found cheap flights from Gatwick to Cologne, which necessitated a short rail journey, but were a lot cheaper.
Four of us went together, leaving at 03.30 Thursday 13 October and returning about midnight on Friday 14. See essen 2005 for my report of the trip.
I am planning to sell some of my games to help pay for the trip. See my gots page for a list.

gamefest has a lot of information about new releases for Essen, and the German website Spielbox is also interesting - if, unlike me, you're a German-speaker.

Essen 2004

Essen 2003

Joseph and Richard went again, but I couldn't afford it.
Even if I had gone, I'm not sure where I'd put any more games!
Even without going there, thanks to Joseph, I bought Railroad Dice, Carcassonne Die Burg, the free Carcassonne expansions Späher and König,
and a signed copy of the limited-edition Cronberg (Cronberg was produced as 1,450 regular editions and 50 collectors' editions).
I found enough information on Kulkmann's G@mebox to be able to have a go of Die Burg.
It also had rules for Späher and König. Both Railroad Dice and Cronberg come with English rules, but you can download updated rules for
Railroad Dice here.

The German website Spielbox has plenty of information about Essen games releases, but as I don't speak German, it was of limited use.

This year the Essen Games Fair was on from Thursday 23 - Sunday 26 October.

Joseph's comments from the fair:

I bought myself 16 new games:
Attika,
Anno 1503,
Kogge,
Logistico,
Railroad Dice ,
Carcassonne Die Burg,
Carcassonne Konig und Spaher tiles,
Die Fugger,
Pingvinas,
The Kookaburra Game,
Rette sich ver Kann,
Alexandros,
Floraida,
Bridges of Shangrila,
Cronberg,
and Industria.
I didn't get the 2F game as I guess someone will order it in due course, and Maya I should probably have got but didn't. The showpiece game of King Arthur with the AI by Knizia flopped, and was being discounted around the halls.
I would recommend Attika which looks top notch, the pick of the crop from the fair.

I look forward to playing these (and probably buying some more of them!)

Essen 2002

Joseph and I went in 2002 too, from 17th - 20th October. We stayed at Hotel
im Girardet Haus, Girardetstraße 2-38, 45131 Essen (Tel. 02 01 / 87 88
00 + 87 88 080). It's only five minutes walk from the exhibition, but is quite
expensive (about £70 per night). We met up with old friends and games
players including Richard Minson, Richard and Reb Harding and Mark, Mark and
Nick from Swindon, amongst others.

Essen 2001

I went to the Essen games fair in Germany in 2001, an experience which I thoroughly
recommend! I bought 30+ games and have played most of them. I've listed them
here with my ratings. Over 147,000 visitors attended
the show in total.

Here we're having a short break before diving back into the heaving
halls for the next buying frenzy!
I'm the one on the left in the bright shirt.

Please click on the image to enlarge and find out who's who - back
to returnwarning - you will have problems on this page with IE
4 - sorry! (less than 1% of my visitors use IE 4).

miscellany

I recently received Time Control from Thompson Industries for review. Written by gamers for
gamers, it looks interesting and I will schedule some testing time soon and post a review. There's a
good introduction to the game on the Thompson
Industries website.

I went to an all-day games event in Marcham in November 2002.
See my Marcham games report for more details.

I went to an all-day games event in Saltdean in November 2005.
See my Saltdean games report for more details.